Five Kisses that Never Changed Everything
by Del Schiz
Summary: If things had only been a little bit different, these kisses might have happened...[LeeSasuke pairing throughout]


Title: Five Kisses that Never Changed Everything  
Author: D.L. SchizoAuthoress  
Rating: PG  
Warnings: boys kissing boys  
Date: March 10th, 2006

A/N: Apparently, the Leesuke plot-bunny wasn't satisfied with the two little fics I wrote earlier, and demanded some action be taken, even if it was just in five short, unrelated snippets (Honest, each one is to be taken seperately, even if they could logically follow one another!). It's one a.m. and I can't sleep because these ideas are rattling around in my head. Remember to share your thoughts by leaving a review. All are welcome, even flames. I am used to it by now, and am just happy that people read my stories!

"Five Kisses that (Never) Changed Everything"

**I. Graduation**

The classroom that was usually so full of students was mostly empty. Only three people remained, and they were there on orders.

Rock Lee glared mightily at the dark-haired boy who sat so calmly in one of the seats. He and Tenten were waiting for their jounin teacher. Surely this other boy, who looked much younger than the two of them, couldn't be the third member of the team?

Looking up through his long bangs, the boy asked flatly, "What are you looking at, fuzzy eyebrows?"

That was it. Lee always tried his best to be polite, but that insult was more than even he could let slide. He pointed angrily at the boy and shouted, "I'm looking at you! How could you possibly be a genin? You look like you're only ten!"

"I'm eleven," the boy replied coldly. "And that's only one year younger than you two; Iruka-sensei told me so."

Lee climbed up on the desk in front of where the boy sat, peering closely at his features. "You don't look eleven years old to me."

Annoyed, the boy snapped, "Get out of my face!"

"Who are you, to boss me around?"

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke!" And now that Lee knew the boy's name, he realized that he recognized him, a little. Meanwhile, Tenten had flushed bright red and was trying to pull Lee off the desk, embarrassed at his actions.

"You big idiot," she yelled, "Don't bother him!"

Lee refused to budge. Tenten's efforts to remove him from the desk made the piece of furniture tilt dangerously backward. Sasuke tried to stand up, and the precarious balancing act fell to pieces. Lee flew off the desk and right into Sasuke, knocking the younger boy to the ground. As they tumbled down, their lips met accidentally in an open-mouthed kiss.

Both boys recoiled, shocked at the sudden, unwanted contact. And under the mortified and angry gaze of Tenten, they glared at each other.

But they both knew that if she hadn't been there, they would have kissed each other for real.

---

**II. Registration**

"Let's go out together!" Lee exclaimed, flashing his best, brightest smile and good-guy pose. His face was very red. "I'll protect you until I die!"

Sasuke stared at the unique-looking older boy for a moment, at a loss for words. He wasn't sure what he wanted to say first, so many thoughts were crowding in his brain. A comment on the boy's super-bobbed hair, super-strange outfit, or super eyebrows? Or maybe he should be offended at the offer of protection -- it wasn't as though Sasuke needed it! Or he might ask the boy what his name was. He could even make a sarcastic observation that he had too many fangirls as it was, to bother adding a fanboy to the list.

He could hear Naruto snickering behind him, and he bet that Sakura was trying to kill this new admirer with a glare. "Um," Sasuke said, realizing that it would be mean not to answer the other boy at all, "I don't think so."

And Lee looked so utterly crushed by his words that Sasuke wished he could take them back. Lee's male teammate, however, was all business. His silver eyes fixed on Sasuke's face, and he demanded, "You, what's your name?"

"If you want to know someone's name, you should give your own first," Sasuke replied cuttingly, turning toward his own teammates. Naruto was grinning insolently, amused by Lee's declaration. Sakura looked at Sasuke with adoring green eyes, relieved that he'd turned Lee down.

"Rock Lee..." whispered the boy he'd turned his back on. Sasuke willed himself not to look over his shoulder at Lee.

"Come on," Sakura said brightly, catching hold of Sasuke's hand, and grabbing Naruto's with her other. "We have to turn in our applications...on the real third floor!"

But before they did that, they had to wait for Naruto, who realized at the top of the staircase that he needed the bathroom. Exasperated, Sakura sat down on one of the benches and sighed, resting her chin on her hands. Sasuke hung back, leaning against the rail of the stairs.

"You never answered me," a soft voice chided him. Sasuke looked down, and saw Lee, sitting on a stair just below him. The dark-eyed, dark-haired older boy smiled ruefully. His teammates had obviously left him behind and gone to the flight of stairs at the other end of the building. "I would like to know your name, even if you don't like me so much."

Sasuke sat on the step next to Lee, hugging his knees to his chest. Lee looked so forlorn that he felt he had to say something, apologize, maybe. "I don't even know how I feel about you." He admitted quietly, leaning close to Lee in order to be heard. "But my name is Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke wasn't expecting Lee to kiss him on the cheek. And he was sure that Lee wasn't expecting a kiss back from him. But he did it anyway.

---

**III. Appreciation**

"Shishi Rendan!" Sasuke cries, and the force of his kick slams his opponent into the ground, cracking the stone tile beneath. Blood flies out of the man's mouth as he gives a choked scream and then goes still.

It is obvious to everyone watching that the man is badly injured, maybe even dead. The referee calls out immediately, "First match winner, Uchiha Sasuke."

After fighting with the cursed seal, Sasuke lacks the energy to try for a more graceful landing and only braces himself to hit the floor. It doesn't happen, though. Strong arms wind around him, and another body supports his own exhausted one. A familiar voice whispers in his ear, "Sasuke-kun, you are incredible. I saw that you copied part of the moves I used on you just once."

"Lee, if not for you, I wouldn't have won," Sasuke replied, wincing from the pain of his injuries.

"You become stronger and stronger every day. You would have found a way." Lee insists. His lips feel good against the flesh marred by the cursed seal.

---

**IV. Vindication**

He should really be getting ready to train with Kakashi-sensei right now, but Sasuke can't do that without taking care of some unfinished business first. So, before his teacher shows up that morning, Sasuke sneaks out of his room and steals the patient list from the head nurse's desk. He sets out for Lee's floor once he has stolen a flower from another patient's get-well bouquet.

It's not that hard to fool the hospital staff with a Henge no Jutsu that makes him look like Gai. He gets off the elevator and finds Lee's room, quickly slipping inside.

"I told the nurses that I didn't want to see you," Lee says behind him. Sasuke whirls around, and finds himself facing an angry Rock Lee. Tears are glistening in the boy's round, black eyes as he mutters, "I didn't want you to see me like this."

Remembering his choice of a disguise, Sasuke responds, "Sorry, I'm not him," and dispells the technique. He feels a little stupid, standing there in front of a tearful Lee with nothing more than a slightly droopy yellow flower. He's not even sure what kind it is -- he only knows that it's big and puffy and sort of reminded him of Lee. With an embarrassed smile, he offers the flower to Lee.

Though he is surprised when who he thought was his teacher turns out to be Uchiha Sasuke, Lee takes the change well. He even manages to smile. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun. That's nice of you."

"I'll, uh, find a vase." Sasuke offers. Lee shakes his head.

"Don't worry about it. I don't think that blossom has many days ahead of it, anyway." Lee becomes pensive, his thick eyebrows knitting together as he frowns. "Just like me, I suppose."

"You're not going to die!" Sasuke exclaims, but there is enough uncertainty in his tone to make it half questioning.

"No..." Lee sighs, "But, knowing what the doctors think, I wish I was. They say that I ought to give up being a ninja." He meets Sasuke's eyes, and the Uchiha sees just how much those words have devastated him. Lee mumbles, "If only I could have done better against that Gaara..."

'Gaara!' Sasuke thinks, shocked. He recalls that Gaara is the redheaded boy from Sunagakure, the strange-looking kid with "Love" tattooed on his forehead. Sasuke is surprised to hear that Gaara is so powerful. He asks Lee, his voice trembling with surpressed emotion, "Is Gaara the one who did this to you?"

Lee nods. Sasuke touches Lee's left arm, which is lying like a piece of statue on top of the blankets, white and unmoving in its cast. Something dark passes over his features, some shadow of the violent and protective feeling that seeing Lee like this stirs in him.

And before he can rationalize himself out of it, Sasuke is leaning down over Lee's supine form, pressing his lips to Lee's own. There is a fierce possessiveness to the kiss, lurking behind the slight pressure and gentle motions. And when Lee murmurs an assent, darts the tip of his warm, wet tongue against Sasuke's lips, that fierceness rises to the surface.

Sasuke holds Lee steady -- his right hand pressed against the boy's cheek -- and kisses him deeper, sliding his tongue against Lee's, delighting in his taste and feel. Lee's right hand, his good hand, reaches up and strokes Sasuke's hair. Neither one wants to stop; neither one wants this moment, this compressed fragment of eternity, to end. But eventually, it has to. Sasuke trails a string of soft, wet kisses down Lee's chin, across the older boy's throat. Lee's eyes burn into his when he raises his head.

"I'll defeat him." Sasuke promises. "I'll defeat him for you."

---

**V. Salvation**

Sasuke fled the hospital, unable to face his teammates anymore. The sight of the water-tower that Naruto hit, the back all blasted out and twisted by the power of the blond's chakra attack, only made the jealous flame in his stomach burn hotter. Tears stung in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.

'He used to be nothing more than dead last,' Sasuke thought, outraged. He leapt from roof to roof, unsure of his direction or destination, only caring that it took him away from the hated Naruto-bastard. 'A scaredy-cat and a loud-mouth! How did he improve so much, in such a small amount of time?'

If nobody had been out, Sasuke probably would have kept going, all the way to where the buildings in the village met the forest. But someone, a young man familiar to Sasuke, was. And when Sasuke saw him, leaning heavily on a crutch and seeming to stare directly at Sasuke, he had to stop.

"Hey, Lee-kun," Sasuke said sharply, crouching like a watchful cat on the handrail, "why did you come out here? Aren't you supposed to be resting those injuries?"

Lee jumped slightly in surprise -- then winced at the pain such movement caused him -- so, obviously, Sasuke had been wrong in thinking that Lee was watching him. The wounded genin hadn't even noticed Sasuke's approach. He smiled then, a humourless one, and muttered, "I'm surprised that you care, Uchiha-san."

Immediately realizing that something was 'off' about Lee when he heard that, Sasuke stepped down onto the roof itself and tried to study Lee's face in the quickly fading sunlight. While none of Lee's grooming habits had fallen to the wayside -- as the shiny bob of hair, scent of mint on his breath, and clean glow of his skin could attest -- there was still an air of disuse to the whole of Lee's posture, a sort of defeated feel, a rustiness. Sasuke realized that Lee had been an invalid for months, waiting for his bones to knit and his wounds to heal. How long had it been since Lee had even practiced his basic moves?

'No wonder he looks so sad,' Sasuke mused, noticing the dark circles forming under Lee's eyes. 'He can't train himself, and with all the energy his body has gotten used to expending per day, he probably can't sleep well, either.'

"Well," Sasuke responded aloud, "You don't want to hurt yourself worse by over-exerting yourself, do you?"

Lee's laugh was like his smile, bitter and without humour. "How could it be any worse, Uchiha-san? Unless I was dead or paralysed, I don't think that it could get worse for me." His round, honest eyes had always been dark, but there seemed to be a veil over them now, a veil of weariness and frustration and wounded pride. "Anyway, what are you doing out here, youself? You look like you're being chased."

"No, I'm not..." Sasuke began to say, then amended it, "I'm only being chased by bad memories."

"Oh?" Lee looked interested, though his tone was noncommital.

Sasuke frowned as he recalled the events that sent him out into the twilight. Lee said nothing to encourage him, only waited and watched. Finally, Sasuke growled out, "Naruto is getting so much stronger than I am..."

Lee said again, "Oh?" But this time he sounded a little amused.

"He has so many techniques, and so much chakra, at his disposal! He can summon that giant frog thing and fight Gaara's ugly sand monster. And how many times can he perform the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu? The guy's stamina is unreal!" Sasuke looked away, hiding his face behind the blue-tinted black fall of his hair. "Besides, whatever special attack he was going to use on me makes the Chidori look like a slap on the wrist."

"Anything else?"

Sasuke's head jerked up at the smile in Lee's voice, but the older boy was watching Sasuke without emotion on his face. For a moment, Sasuke wrinkled his brow, trying to think of other times that Naruto had upstaged him. Another memory rose, clouded by terror, incomplete. "And his eyes. He can make them turn all evil and red."

"I hate to break it to you, Uchiha-san," Lee remarked, "but those red Sharingan of yours look pretty evil themselves."

"Oh, why do you care?" Sasuke demanded coldly, angrily. "It's not like you could understand!"

He knew right away that he'd said the wrong thing. Lee's small, genuine smile vanished, chased away by a look of real fury. Lee tried to draw himself up to his full height, which was greater than Sasuke's, but failed to because of pain. Despite that, his good hand flashed out and struck Sasuke across the face, in an open-handed slap. Sasuke took a step back, the left side of his face stinging, and stared at Lee.

Breathing heavily, Lee stumbled. His left leg buckled, and he couldn't support his weight with the crutch held by his left arm. Sasuke, without thinking, reached out and steadied the older boy, wrapping an arm around his waist and the other about his shoulders.

"Get off me!" Lee cried, enraged, "You self-important, spoiled brat!"

All Sasuke could think to say was, "What?"

"What couldn't I understand? Being left behind, feeling weak? What it's like to always lose to a teammate that I want to respect me?" Lee ranted. He wasn't struggling against Sasuke's assistance anymore, but he kept Sasuke back at arm's length with his right hand against the younger boy's chest. "Or maybe you can't understand what it's like to have someone steal the only advantage you have!"

Sasuke released his hold on Lee, letting the angry genin take a seat on the stone bench beside the railing. Totally confused now, Sasuke repeated, "What?"

The anger had drained out of Lee, leaving only sadness and frustration. "You stole my taijutsu. You threw your advantages in my face -- your ability to mold chakra, your bloodline limit. It only took you a month, what took me years to achieve! Now I've got nothing."

Understanding dawned. Sasuke knelt in front of Lee. "Lee, I'm sorry. I didn't even think about that. I didn't consider how it might feel, to you, watching me fight that Suna guy with your personal style."

"Beating him." Lee muttered. "You beat him. With the Chidori."

"I guess...but he ran away, and Orochimaru attacked the village. So I'll never know for sure. Besides, Naruto really stopped him." Sasuke argued.

Lee shouted suddenly, "Oh, stop whining! You got to help defend the village, while I was just another stupid, unconscious civilian. Get it through your head, Sasuke; there will always be people stronger than you, and people weaker than you!"

Then Lee fell silent, running both hands through his short black hair as he became lost in his own dark thoughts. Sasuke moved to sit beside him on the bench.

It was getting quite dark when either of them spoke again. Lee whispered, "I'm going to take the surgery, Sasuke. There's only a fifty percent chance of success, but I'm going to let Tsunade-sama do it."

They turned to look at each other. Somehow, without consciously realizing it, the two of them had gotten closer, until their faces were nearly touching. Which one of them moved first, neither would be able to remember, but as they kissed, so softly and hesitantly, it didn't matter so much.

Sasuke admitted, "I don't think that I could take that chance."

"I have to. I can't let anything stand in the way of my dream." Lee replied softly. Sasuke thought of his own dream, his dream of vengeance. He remembered what Lee had told him, when they fought each other, about the hard-working types and the geniuses.

Maybe, in order to be truly great, one had to be both a hard worker and a genius. Or a genius of hard work.

In any case, Uchiha Sasuke would need to stay in Konoha to find out. The fact that Lee was a good kisser was just a bonus...


End file.
